Anthony Bourdain reveals biggest pet peeve when traveling

The celebrity chef says he hates people who "are not ready for the X-ray machine."
(Reuters)

As the host of four different travel series over the last 15 years, Anthony Bourdain has seen the inside of a lot of airports. And like all seasoned travelers, he’s been subjected to more TSA security checks than he'd like.

But the thing he hates most about waiting at TSA checkpoints? It’s us and our penchant for holding up the line.

Bourdain recently told Travel + Leisure that his least favorite thing about traveling is standing behind “people who are not ready for the X-ray machine,” and specifically, those of us who “have bangles and jewelry and have dressed up even though they’re going to have to go through a metal detector.”

But Bourdain didn’t stop there. He also expressed disdain at travelers who somehow forget they’re traveling with contraband liquids in their bags.

“They said no liquids and gels, mother-----. You know? Come on!” he stated.

However, Bourdain claims he refrains from actually screaming obscenities at his fellow travelers. “I don’t get angry, I don’t tap my feet, I don’t huff and puff or glare at people,” he said. Instead, Bourdain stated that he simply goes “limp” like a “recidivist criminal” who gets caught by the cops for an umpteenth time. “They generally don’t resist,” he said.

There might be another reason Bourdain doesn’t want to cause a scene in the TSA line: In an April interview with The New York Times, Bourdain admitted to traveling with a “sneaky credit card that turns into a knife.”

“It’s not something you’d want to get into a serious fight with, but it might be a rude surprise should someone grab you from behind as you enter your hotel room,” he said.